tv Special Report With Bret Baier FOX News July 17, 2014 3:00pm-4:01pm PDT
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this is the fox news alert. i'm bret baier in washington. two major stories breaking at this hour. a missile hit a malaysian airlines commercial plane carrying 295 people, causing it to break up over embattled eastern ukraine. there are no survivors. the plane was shot out of the sky. we still don't know exactly who fired that missile, but senior u.s. officials tell fox they're ruling out it was fired by the ukrainian military. and just in the last few hours, israel has launched a ground incursion and air bombardment in the gaza strip. that on the heels of palestinian rocket fire that broke a cease-fire and a wave of retaliatory israeli air strikes. we begin with the story that had been the story of the day.
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u.s. intelligence officials confirm a malaysia airlines jetliner was shot down by a surfa surface-to-air missile. the flight originated in the netherlands bound for ku ala lumpur. to sort out what we know at this hour, jennifer griffin looks at the geopolitical impact. ed henry with reaction from the administration. as the obama foreign policy is still under fire. but first, senior foreign affairs correspondent a.m.y kellogg has this developing story. hello, amy. >> reporter: bret, this is the first time the conflict between russia and the ukraine has spilled over in any significant way. like the daunting prospect of an investigation and recovery operation. malaysian airlines flight mh-17 from amsterdam to kuala lumpur with 295 people on board was
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shot down in eastern ukraine, about 20 miles from the russian border. >> the ukrainian authorities believe that the plane was shot down. at this stage, however, malaysia is unable to verify the cause of this tragedy. >> reporter: ukraine's president said the boeing 777 was shot down and not by his forces. >> i would like to bring your attention to the fact that we are not calling it an accident or a disaster. but an act of terrorism. >> reporter: ukraine's security chief went a step further saying he had phone intercepts between russian military and intelligence officers he claims were involved in the attack, discussing the downing of the plane, and then finally the realization they had shot down a passenger aircraft. around the time of the crash, the military leader of the donetsk people's republic on
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social media boasted that his forces had shot down a ukrainian transport plane. shortly after that social media post was deleted. various rebels spokesmen claimed instead ukraine's army. the separatists have shot down planes before, as recently as yesterday. back in june they shot down a transport plane killing 49. they shot down another plane monday. rebels claim they have found the plane's black box and indicated they will hand it over to russia. president obama has offered condolences and help to ukraine. so has russian president vladimir putin. the malaysian prime minister said that he had spoken to the ukrainian president about creating a humanitarian corridor to the crash site. he said, bret, that the next of kin of the victims can be flown to kiev if they want to travel to ukraine. he said the investigation must not be hindered in any way. bret? >> amy kellogg live in london
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tonight. jennifer griffin has a look at what the downed aircraft means for the international stage. >> reporter: senior u.s. intelligence officials confirm late today that malaysia airlines flight 17 was shot down by a sophisticated russian-made surface-to-air missile known as a buk system that can fire into the air up to 72,000 feet. although u.s. officials are still trying to determine from where the missile was launched, many in washington are already pointing fingers at the russians. one senior defense official told fox news, quote, if this was done by the separatists, it was done with russian assistance, whether direct or indirect, whether they just gave them the weapons or trained them on how to use them. >> you don't give sophisticated toys to thugs, and over time expect it to turn out well. and putin at the end of the day, putin is the guy responsible for what happened today. >> reporter: some on capitol hill are pressuring the administration to respond. >> we must react in a stringent fashion.
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because vladimir putin is clearly are fermenting this situation in ukraine, sending in additional troops and additional equipment for the, quote, separatists. >> reporter: more lawmakers are likely to increase that pressure on the white house if indeed there were 23 americans onboard. as the flight's manifest suggests. >> we do not have any confirmed information about casualties, the cause or additional details. >> reporter: yesterday president obama announced sanctions on the russian company that manufactures the buk missile system. a deleted twitter post from june 29th when separatists overtook a buk missile base in donetsk, eastern ukraine, shows a photo of the missile launcher that the russian-backed separatists claim to have captured. >> if there's any silver lining in this unspeakable tragedy, it may be exactly the issue that gives president putin great pause, and that he really does
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begin to get control over the separatists. >> reporter: a senior u.s. intelligence source tells me they're ruling out the missile was fired by the ukraine military, but cannot rule out that it was fired from the russian side of the border. the source says it was likely ansa-20 or sa-11. now u.s. intelligence analysts are following the missile's trajectory and will be able to track exactly from where it was fired. >> thank you, jennifer. another fox news alert. ground operations are under way, right now, in gaza. after a brief pause in operations, ended with hamas rockets and mortars being fired, the israelis engaged. john huddy is in gaza city where he's been all night there with the very latest. hello, john. >> reporter: well, bret, it's day 11 now on the ground here of operation protective edge. it's really today that we've
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been anticipating, that israeli ground forces moved into gaza. all night, we've been hearing heavy artillery fire coming from the west, offshore cannon fire. from the north, heavy artillery. 105-millimeter cannons, 155-meter howitzers. now ground troops have pushed their way into northern gaza. we've also seen and heard the air strikes and choppers circling, jets circling as well. what seemed like a window of opportunity for peace earlier today with the cease-fire, was slammed shut as now the fighting and ground offensive has begun. it appeared this morning the cease-fire would end before even beginning. a dozen hamas fighters tunneled under the israeli/gaza border with rpgs, ak-47s and other weapons. the military believes this was a
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bold attempt to infiltrate, kill and possibly kidnap israelis. hamas and israel agreed to the cease-fire for the united nations to bring relief supplies to gaza. today was the first time hundreds of thousands of palestinians who have been holed up in their homes for the past ten days were finally able to get back to some semblance of normalcy without fearing for their lives. the crowds scrambled to withdraw money from the atms before the cease-fire ended this afternoon in gaza. you can see how crowded and chaotic it is here. people are literally crushing into the line to get money out of the atm machine. it's been closed for more than a week. this is the first chance they got, and you had to push your way in. >> yeah. >> reporter: in the afternoon, once the humanitarian break was over, hamas rockets were launched again. in return, israel resumed its air strike.
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another 18,000 reserve troops have been called up, bret, bringing that total number to 58,000 troops. many of which are now on the ground fighting here in gaza city. bret? >> john huddy live in gaza city early friday morning. john, we'll check in with you in just a bit. thank you. today's takedown of that malaysia airlines flight further complicates an already full foreign policy plate for president obama. chief white house correspondent ed henry has that part of the story from the white house. >> reporter: president obama went forward with his planned schedule of two fund-raisers in new york tonight, calling the ukrainian president aboard air force one on the way. earlier the president was pushing for more highway funding in delaware where he stopped in at a barbecue joint. >> i hear the burgers are pretty good. >> reporter: and paused for 28 seconds to note the downed jet. >> it looks like a terrible tragedy. right now we're working to determine whether there were
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american citizens onboard. that is our first priority. >> reporter: the president also had vice president biden call por shenko to call for assistance, including a team headed to the region to determine what happened. >> there are many questions that need to be answered. and we'll get those answers. and we will take the next steps accordingly. >> reporter: the president heard about the crash from russian president vladimir putin who passed along air traffic control reports during a phone call to discuss sanctions. the white house pressed putin on extensive evidence that russia is significantly increasing the provision of heavy weapons to separatists in ukraine. meanwhile, as israel led an offensive into gaza, secretary of state john kerry was on the phone late today urging restraint with israeli prime minister benjamin netanyahu. all playing out just three days after white house press secretary josh earnest said some of the president's policies are making the world more tranquil.
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>> how does the white house take the notion that the president is a bystander? >> you've seen this administration intervene in a meaningful way that has furthered american interests and substantially improved the, you know, the tranquility of the global community. >> reporter: republicans today warned kerry is now likely to push the president to extend nuclear talks with iran beyond sunday's deadline. >> with so many foreign policy disasters like the shootdown of this airplane, he's going to be really back pedaling fast. >> reporter: late last year, in order to stop a bipartisan effort led by a democratic senator to issue new sanctions against iran, the president publicly promised if the talks with iran did not bear fruit by july 20th, he'd ready new sanctions. today state department spokesman suggested that may be changing, tweeting, quote, john kerry does
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not support additional nuclear related sanctions while we negotiate. because it would not be productive to the negotiations. now, very interesting, on that call with the ukrainian president, the white house said mr. obama stressed all evidence from the crash site has to stay inside ukraine. so that it's not tampered with. but as you heard amy tell in a report earlier, the separatists are already claiming they took a black box or black boxes to russia. big problem potentially tonight. >> ed henry live on the north lawn. thank you. we'll follow both stories throughout the show tonight. ak saingss the justice department is dragging its heels investigating the irs scandal. our fox affiliates across the country are covering this tonight. fox 29 in philadelphia, covering a top aide to chris christie saying she did not alert her bosses in the closure of the lanes leading up to the george washington bridge last year. she testified before a panel investigating the closures
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dubbed bridgegate. ktv, ruling the state's death penalty unconstitutional. california has kept the death penalty on hold for years. a live look at seattle from our fox affiliate there, q-13. big story there tonight. rapidly spreading wildfires fueled by wind and triple-digit temperatures. so far it's chased nearly 900 people from their homes there. that's tonight's live look outside the beltway from "special report" on a busy news night. in the ukraine, and gaza, we have it all. we'll be right back. my name is karen and i have diabetic nerve pain. it's progressive pain. first that feeling of numbness. then hot pins. almost like lightning bolts, hot strikes into my feet. so my doctor prescribed lyrica. the pain has been reduced and i feel better than i did before. [ male announcer ] it's known that diabetes damages nerves. lyrica is fda-approved to treat diabetic nerve pain. lyrica is not for everyone. it may cause serious allergic reactions
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palestinian territories' border with israel. it was after a cease-fire failed. earlier today, 13 hamas terrorists tried to infiltrate israel. but were stopped by an israeli air strike. an israeli strike, i should say. the military said the israeli military said this operation will be open-ended and would be carried out on several fronts in the gaza strip. we'll continue to update this through the hours. as you look live there on this breaking story. the other story, the shootdown of a commercial airliner over ukraine. what has, or in this case has not been done when it comes to the irs targeting of conservatives made for a fiery day on capitol hill. as the focus in the news has been elsewhere. mike emanuel looks at the frustration about a justice department investigation that so far has not produced results. >> deputy attorney general james cole sought to convince skeptical house oversight lawmakers the justice department is taking the irs investigation
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seriously, but said it's too early to provide facts and conclusions. >> i know you are frustrated by the fact that i cannot at this time disclose any specifics about the investigation. >> reporter: lawmakers asked when the justice department learned more than two years of former irs official lois lerner's e-mails were missing. >> we learned about it after that from the press accounts that were in the paper following the irs' notification to the congress. >> reporter: republican jim jordan wanted to know if the missing e-mails will be part of the justice department's probes. >> all of the issues related to those e-mails will be wrapped up in the investigation that we do. >> including the delay? >> including the delay. >> reporter: a pennsylvania democrat pressed for answers, too. >> we all really want to know what happened to those missing e-mails. all of us. we are all somewhat skeptical that they can't be recovered in some fashion. all of us. and we urge you to do your
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utmost, and urge your colleagues to find those missing e-mails. >> reporter: former federal prosecutor turned south carolina republican congressman trey gowdy tried to press him. >> you cannot because you don't know or you cannot because you choose not to answer the question? >> it would be both. >> reporter: darrell issa asked why the u.s. attorney for washington, d.c., hasn't convened a grand jury to consider lois lerner's contempt of congress resolution. >> this committee and the u.s. house of representatives as an entire body on a bipartisan basis referred contempt to the u.s. attorney. isn't that correct? >> that's correct. >> the statute says the u.s. attorney shall prosecute that, is that correct? >> i believe that is the wording of the statute. >> at the current time the u.s. attorney has not prosecuted that, isn't that correct? >> no charges have been brought to my knowledge. >> reporter: republicans continued calling for a special
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prosecutor to investigate the irs. bret? >> mike, thanks. microsoft is cutting up to 18,000 jobs. about 15% of its staff. these cuts were expected, but the extent of them was a surprise. stocks finished down today. the dow tumbled 161. the s&p 500 dropped 23. the nasdaq lost 63. still ahead, the latest breaking details on the downed commercial plane. it's been called a humanitarian crisis. the undocumented children coming into the u.s. in droves. but who else is coming in? stay with us. i make a lot of purchases for my business. and i get a lot in return with ink plus from chase. like 50,000 bonus points when i spent $5,000 in the first 3 months after i opened my account. and i earn 5 times the rewards on internet, phone services and at office supply stores. with ink plus i can choose how to redeem my points. travel, gift cards, even cash back. and my rewards points won't expire.
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surface-to-air missile. it was shot down over war-torn eastern ukraine. just moments ago, we learned from a senior defense official that the pentagon is working to track the trajectory of the surface-to-air missile with the hopes of determining exactly the place from which it was launched, and by whom. senior u.s. officials already ruled out it was fired by the ukrainian military. chuck hagel is expected to talk to his ukrainian and malaysian counterparts tomorrow by phone. russian president vladimir putin said ukraine bears responsibility for this crash. we'll bring in the latent developments throughout the show as they happen. the surge of undocumented children is one issue. and a big one. but even more unsettling, according to top u.s. officials, is who else may be sneaking into this country illegally. here's more. >> reporter: the stark warning about the border comes from the marine corps general whose command is responsible for
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central and south america. general john kelly told the defense news website the flood of undocumented immigrants coupled with an expanding drug trade directly impacts the u.s. quote, many argue these threats are not existential and do not challenge our national security. i disagree. kelly also warned that the same routes used to move children and drugs can also be used to move operatives into the u.s. quote, hundreds of tons of drugs, people, terrorists, potentially weapons of mass destruction can travel as long as they can pay the fare. kelly warned congress earlier this year against budget cuts at the border. >> we can see with amazing clarity this drug movement. 34% of it i can't touch it. i watch it go by, in the maritime domain, because i don't have the assets to stop it. >> the te nom none with the children crossing is sending a message that those who want to do us harm, it's wide open. >> reporter: the house homeland
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security committee says the numbers begin to spike in june 2012. as this chart part of a recent intelligence report shows. it shows children on the bottom and adults on the top. executive action by the president allows for prosecutorial discretion in cases where illegal immigrants enter the u.s. as minors. other threats are being tracked. >> the aliens are what we're most concerned about, afghans, pakistanis. we have aliens at the border. >> congressional testimony today before the senate foreign relations committed tee reinforced the general's analysis from handling these children, and the paperwork is taking the agents away from the border. the top marine four-star general james amos says he thinks the obama administration
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and inability to get a status of forces agreement with iraq, and then removing all u.s. troops from iraq, paved the way to the terrorist army of isis. >> i have a hard time believing that had we been there, and working with the government, and working with parliament, and working with the minister of defense and rule of law, all that stuff, i don't think we would be in the shape we're in today. >> it's unusual for a high-ranking military official to publicly question the white house. amos is set to retire this fall. we will update the two huge breaking stories in gaza and ukraine this hour. stay with us. introducing nexium 24hr finally, the purple pill, the #1 prescribed acid blocking brand, comes without a prescription for frequent heartburn. get complete protection. nexium level protection™
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bottom of the hour. let's check back in on both major breaking stories at this hour. american intelligence confirms it was indeed a surface-to-air missile that brought down the malaysia airlines plane, with nearly 300 people on board. there are no survivors. it's not clear according to officials who fired that missile. but they say they're confident it wasn't the ukrainian military. and the other breaking story, israel's military has launched a ground offensive in the gaza strip. the culmination of ten days of intense fighting in which israel hit more than 2,000 targets. hamas launched nearly 1,500 rockets into israel. we learned just moments ago from the white house press secretary josh earnest that when president obama landed in new york city ahead of a couple of
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fund-raisers, he discussed both stories with secretary of state john kerry, and with the president's national security team. for the latest on the ground in gaza, let's check in with correspondent john huddy, who has been on post there. john, hello again. the military saying this is a limited and target operation, trying to take out hamas underground tunnels. so are israeli forces on the ground yet? >> reporter: that's what we're hearing, bret. in fact, just a little while ago, we heard what sounded like machine gunfire. not necessarily small arms fire, but after the heavy barrage of artillery fire, and by the way, we saw cannon fire from offshore, we saw, of course, air strikes, artillery fire from the east, from the north, from the west, bottom line is after that, then we started hearing what sounded like machine gunfire on the ground. what we're learning at this point, bret, is we are understanding that forces are on the ground here. and that makes sense, because that heavy fire from both naval
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vessels off the coast here, offshore here, seem to be targeting specific areas, in northern gaza and to the east of our location here. just hitting, relentlessly hitting these locations. and flares are going up. after that died down, the heavy artillery fire, then we started hearing that machine gunfire. that's why we believe, and we're hearing at this point that troops are on the ground here in gaza. >> john, stay safe. we'll head back for any breaking details. national security correspondent jennifer griffin is following the other breaking story, the downed airliner in ukraine. jen, you've been reporting, there are these two types of missiles that could be responsible here. what are the differences between them? >> well, it's significant, bret. because u.s. intelligence sources are looking at either the sa-11 or sa-20. the sa-11 is significant because the u.s. intelligence knows the rebels got ahold of ansa-11 a
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few weeks ago. in the last four days, when they've seen three planes fall out of the sky, they believe in fact whether it was operational after all. the sa-20 is significant because that is another word for an s-300. this is a kind of missile launcher old held by the russian military. it is a much more difficult missile to fire. so if in fact u.s. intelligence determines that it was an sa-20 that brought down the plane, that it could possibly be from the russian territory. that's why it's significant that those sources are telling us they cannot rule out the missile was fired from the russian side of the border. >> quickly, jen, this comes a day after the president announced sanctions, specific sanctions against specific firms. >> specific defense firms, including one firm which makes the buk missiles. those are the sa-11 missiles. so if it was ansa-11, it shows
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the white house and state department and dod were noticing that these buk missiles were moving into the rebel territory, that their defense firm should cut it out. it is very significant it was one of eight defense firms targeted for sanctions less than 24 hours before this plane went down. >> jennifer, thank you. we will have the latest on this malaysia airlines shootdown. (vo) ours is a world of passengers. the red-eyes. (daughter) i'm really tired. (vo) the transfers. well, that's kid number three. (vo) the co-pilots. all sitting... ...trusting... ...waiting... ...for a safe arrival. introducing the all-new subaru legacy. designed to help the driver in you... ...care for the passenger in them. the subaru legacy. it's not just a sedan. it's a subaru.
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the separatists could have only gotten that capability from russia. and so the culpable party here is vladimir putin. and what gives credence to that theory is in the last couple of weeks, separatists have shot down several aircraft, including a transport aircraft flying at 21,000 feet. so they have a record in recent days of shooting down ukrainian aircraft. >> malaysian airlines flight mh-17 from amsterdam to kuala lumpur, shot down today. all 300 people onboard, 295 killed. it was brought down by a surf e surface-to-air missile. russian separatists claimed responsibility for a number of things. monday, a ukrainian cargo plane
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was shot down, according to both ukrainian and u.s. officials. late wednesday, ukrainian su-25, a fighter jet crashes. and u.s. officials aren't confirming that, but the ukrainians say that it was shot down as well by separatists. thursday, separatists reportedly bragged about shooting down another ukrainian cargo aircraft. that's today. and then we have the malaysian passenger jet crashing, brought down by a surface-to-air missile, one that had to be very sophisticated. let's bring in our panel. charles, thoughts on this. >> there's one scenario that fits all the facts. and that is, that the rebels shot down the plane probably by accident. the reason that we think that is because one of the rebel leaders proudly announced on twitter at the time of the shootdown, that they had shot down a ukrainian
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cargo plane. and placed exactly where it landed where the malaysian airliner is. clearly, this overwhelmingly likely this is what happened. as you said, the rebels had already earlier this week shot down another cargo plane. and this is part of the festival of the rebels playing with their new toys on which they could only have been trained by the russians. where it came from, well, apparently two weeks ago they captured a battery. they paraded it on twitter, of these antiaircraft missiles. so it could be that. or it could be a battery directly supplied by the russians. the bottom line is, if this is an indirect russian attack, the russians, putin is the one supporting the rebels, arming the rebels. the rebels already are in retreat. they lost their main center, the ukrainian army performed rather well. they are now sort of holed up in
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their two main towns. this an aggressive action on their part. they clearly did not try to shoot down an international airline which is a disaster for them. but we ought to be pushing really hard on the evidence here. and the russians and the rebels are in charge of the wreckage. they've already announced a black box is on the way to moscow. you know how reliable that information's going to be. we have to nail this to russia and putin and make them pay. >> a couple of top democrats have weighed in. elliott engel, the top democrat on the house foreign affairs committee said this. the shooting down, if it's true, of a passenger airliner is an act of terror. then you had senate armed services committee chairman carl levin saying even if it's foreign government, they should be held accountable. whoever did it should pay a full price, if it's by a country, either directly or indirectly, then it could be considered an act of war. >> well, and vice president
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biden today said this was not an accident. so what you have here is a situation where the united states in terms of its foreign policy, brit, is having to come to terms with how do you handle this. yesterday, as we know, we imposed additional sanctions on putin and the russians. with the idea that they were persisting in having their troops push into the ukraine. despite promises that they were going to pull back. and part of that also was delivering weapons to the separatists, and the idea was, again, we want you to stop. they said they were going to stop, but they had not stopped. now we see this today. so is it an act of war? i don't think we're at that point yet. and i hope we don't get to that point. the fact is, what you have here, especially if you have americans killed, and apparently there were americans onboard, an act that is against the citizens of our country. and our government has a right to protect them. >> the president talked to vladimir putin today by phone,
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and it was as this was breaking, and we're told by the kremlin that it was putin, and then confirmed by the white house, putin who told president obama about this downed airliner in ukrainian air space. what about this -- where we go forward, if in fact russian separatists and if in fact russia has been supplying them? >> look, bret, charles just made the case, so nicely outlined almost in lawyer-like fashion the evidence against the russians, and the evidence against president putin. this is not news. president putin is a killer. this is more evidence of the fact that he's a killer. when the russians shot down a korean airline in 1983, ronald reagan called one of president putin's predecessors a killer. the russians denied it. they admitted it 12 years later. instead of running around lower manhattan raising money for democrats, the president should go on national television and call vladimir putin a killer.
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he should isolate him diplomatically and put him back in the black hole from which he came. >> juan, what about that. the white house putting out a picture of president obama on the phone with the ukrainian president, saying that he's in contact with secretary kerry and the national security team. but yet he kept his schedule. he went to a burger joint today, he talked about infrastructure, as all this is breaking, and then continued on to, as judge napolitano mentions, to dnc fund-raisers in new york and the hampto hamptons. is that a problem? >> i don't think it's a problem. if he was out of touch, if he wasn't engaged, if he's unaware, if his team is not on top of it. it's not the case that -- i mean, we look at presidents through history. presidents react to crises but they don't necessarily cancel what they're doing. >> two big things today. >> the second one came late in the day. it's not a matter -- i can understand why someone who is a
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political critic would want to say, hey, it looks like he's not pay attention. he's paying intense attention. in fact, the world is. in response to judge napolitano, my god, putin is isolated. i think putin hurt himself with the europeans. any european interested in trying to make excuses for putin and continuing to do business with the oil and gas coming out of russia, they lost that excuse today. >> what is the president's reaction? you said what matters is not where he is. he's had no reaction. he's had no reaction to anything that i can tell in the last six months. look, it isn't as if we're going to go to war with russia. but we have denied ukraine lethal weapon ryweaponry. the rebels and the russians are killing ukrainians in large numbers, by shooting them out of the sky. the least the president could do is make a damned decision for once in his life. and announce we're now going to
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supply lethal weapons for the ukrainians to defend themselves. and destroy the rebel insurgents. >> you said a minute ago that the ukrainian army has performed well. and guess who's back in the ukrainian army. it's our cia, it's our government, it's the europeans. >> you know what we have given them? mres. >> i'm just telling you -- >> can i interrupt? we need to wrap it up. we have another big story, israel. beginning ground operations in gaza. we'll be right back. when you run a business, you can't settle for slow.
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this is right up the street from our location. it is a flare coming down which signals it to me that that is an indication that ground troops are going to be -- artillery is going to be targeting that area. and i tell you, that's a little disconcerting because that's very close. here is more incoming fire from northern gaza. >> john huddy a little while ago in gaza as this ground operation is underway. the israeli military moving forward. they are saying that israeli, they have initiated this ground operation, basically to go under -- after the tunnels that hamas has been using to get to places to fire these rockets and mortars into israel. 15 of them, we're back with the panel. judge, what about this? the implications of it. obviously some people expected it, others said they didn't think it was going to happen. >> i think prime minister netanyahu was pressured by some of the members of his own party in his cabinet to
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do it. look, i'm the libertarian, i'm the small government guy. i'm the war as a last resort guy. even i think this is a no brainer and i think this was just. hamas is using human shields. hamas sends professional killers in the countries through these tunnels. they were aiming at a can kill children. he has a moral and legal justification to destroy those tunnels even if it includes entering the gaza territory. i believe that the israelis will be surgical and will be minimal. but they will get the job done and it has to get done or they are going to live with the bombs and missiles coming and the murderers coming forever. >> the state department says secretary kerry is ready with his wags packed. he has been on the phone with egypt and prime minister netanyahu today. but hopes for a cease-fire. >> well, i don't see where -- you know, the problem for israel is they get trapped in gaza and they are there for a long time
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and they find themselves engaged and we have another war. look, it's in israel's interest to find some resolution. and i think that's why you are starting to see pressure now coming from the likes of turkey, jordan, lebanon. can they help put pressure on hamas to say hamas, you have got to back down, this is not helping anybody. that pressure has not been forthcoming. the israelis have obviously a tremendous military advantage, the site -- you look at the casualty comparisons it's unbelievable. 200 to 1 in terms of who is dying and they have the protection of our dome. i think it's israel's interest not to go into gaza but to find a way to have peace. >> they are there now. looking live at early friday morning gaza city, charles? >> there is one piece of news that hasn't really been publicized. the u.n. agency that is in gaza that's more radical than even hamas is, but the agency had to admit after delay of a day, that it found in one of its schools,
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20 hamas rockets hidden. now, this is the length of the depraft of hamas. when even the u.s., the u.n. has to admit that it is obviously creating situations, hiding its weaponry among children, in fact, as a way to protect itself. this is the most morally depraved combatant that we can see in that area and the israelis have very little choice. can you attack from the air. they have had some success, but the tunnels are the threat because it gives them access into israel, that the judges said to kill and to kidnap. and that's why they had to do it it but the israelis are extremely reluctant. they don't want to do this. and if a cease-fire is offered, they will take it. >> a couple days ago, ed henry asked josh ernest about the administration whether the president and this perception that is he a bystander. take a listen. >> i think that there have been a number of situations
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in which you have seen this administration intervene in a meaningful way that has substantially furthered american interests and substantially improved the, you know, the tranquility of the global community. >> tranquility. >> i think it was overstatement, clearly no one would say tranquil. if he is saying that the united states has acted with the sanctions against the russians, for example, or in the syria situation where we got the allies and got russia to cooperate with pulling back on the weaponry. libya you can think of. even in the ukraine. certainly today is not tranquil? >> obviously not. >> that's it for the panel. final thoughts when we m come back jesse don't go! jesse...no! i'm sorry daisy, but i'm a loner. and a loner gotta be alone. heee yawww!
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so much to cover here. a quick round with the panel. final thoughts. back to the malaysian airline plane shot down over ukraine, charles. >> i want to see leadership from the president of the united states. i want to see moral outrage instead of him on the beach in the democrats with the most expensive town in america wasting money. i'm not going to hold my breath. >> juan? >> i think the optics are bad. you know, if that's the case i would agree with you and bret baier. they shouldn't have gone to the fund raiser. >> i didn't say they shouldn't have gone i said it's a bad image. >> i think is he engaged and even people on the right don't want war with russia. >> charles? >> locate a studio in the hamptons, go on television and announce we are going to give lethal weaponry to the
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ukrainians and send forces into kiev that will train them and we want access to the crash site. >> we will follow this all night. thanks for inviting us into your home tonight, a busy night, fair, balanced and unafraid. this is a fox news alert. two huge breaking stories. a taking down a boeing 777. 295 people blown up at 30,000 feet. 23 americans reportedly on board. israel had warned hamas and right now israel is carrying out that warning. launching a ground invasion in gaza. we have correspondence around the world covering -- correspondents around the world covering both breaking news stories. the boeing 777 shot down in eastern ukraine near the russian border. flight m 817 from amsterdam amsterdam -- ukraine's
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